Friday, February 29, 2008

Joba Chamberlain started the game and was solid for two innings. Ian Kennedy followed and pitched the 3rd and 4th, then Phil Hughes came in to pitch the 5th. He may have had the best stuff, striking out two of the three batters he faced.

All of the "Big Three" looked good today combining to throw 5 innings of one-hit baseball while striking out six.

I know it was against a college team, but it's still a nice start.

Offensively the Yanks were led by reigning AL MVP Alex Rodriguez who went 1 for 2 with one hit, one walk, a sac fly, and 3 RBI. Jorge Posada also pitched in with double, and a 2-run triple -- Yes Jorge Posada hit a triple. He also scored 2 runs.

The Yankees scored one in the first, four in the 2nd, and four in the 4th, and were leading the game 9-0 in the top of the 6th. Then Kei Igawa came in to pitch. He loaded the bases, and gave up a grand slam to a pinch hitter, cutting the Yankees lead to 9-4. Igawa walked the number 9 hitter (on a college team) on five pitches to start the rally.

Jeff Marquez then came in and pitched a perfect 7th. In the bottom half of the inning the Yanks added 2 runs extending their lead to 11-4. Alan Horne and Chase Wright pitched a perfect 8th and 9th to close out the game. So in the end everyone but Igawa did their job.

*In other spring training news Johan Santana was roughed up in his first outing of the spring. He went 2 innings, and gave up 3 runs on 4 hits, one of the hits being a 3-run homer by Juan Gonzalez. Santana also struck out a batter. The Mets ended up losing their game 5-4.

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Comments:

...so what you're saying is that Johan Santana is only marginally better than Kei Igawa? When you put it that way, Igawa's $46mil almost seems like a bargain... hah! Igawa's outing was a blemish on a great day -- what a shame. Nearly perfect game otherwise, except for 1 hit given up by IPK in the 5th.